You want to be authentic when you post something on social media; really you should be. Being a freelancer or self-employed business owner, it is essential that you keep driving the business and that can mean posting to social media. When personal tragedy strikes it can be impossible to be motivated to do so. So how can you post to social media when you are depressed? Even if your business or livelihood depends on being consistent and getting the word out about your business, it can be hard to do so.
At the time of writing this piece, a close family member and friend passed away and me and my family are left with a big hole in our hearts and lives. It is especially difficult because he lived across the country so arrangements in a short time are difficult to impossible. His memory burns sharply in our minds as he was such a genuine, pure, and kind person that I will never forget. I find myself at a crossroads today. I have a business and need to keep going and push through online but it is difficult to do so when I am depressed? So how do you remain active on social media in times of personal tragedy? Below are some guidelines.
- Know that is too shall pass. I love this quote made popular today by the band OK GO. Know that this storm will pass and that acknowledging it is essential. You can’t avoid it and you must accept it. Finding ways to acknowledge it in your lifestyle business as an entrepreneur is cathartic. Trust your audience to listen but don’t go overboard by posting too often about it. For me, I created this blog to represent a place of mindfulness that is open to diverse topics but remains focused and dedicated to areas of social media, SEO, and improving business owners lives. As long as you remain true to your mission, your audience will respect you.
- Listen to podcasts. For me, the great @lewishowes is an inspiration. He and others like him have some amazing motivating words and interviews that can help get you through or at least remember there are other things out there than the grief that’s in your own head.
- Use your training. Tragedies happen and no one can avoid them but you can prepare yourself and your brain to not give in completely to what you face. What helps me is getting out of my own head-space whenever I begin to feel depression take hold. Know your traps so that you don’t fall into them. When you start to recognize that downward spiral you can find ways to get yourself out of it before it becomes a problem. Gratefulness exercises are good as is exercise and other positive activities.
- Have systems in place. When tragedy happens the last thing you want to do is post a brand positive message online or post uplifting things but if that’s your brand you need to be consistent or you could lose followers. The best thing you can do is have systems in place that auto-post your old content when you can’t. There are a number of tools we went over before in our fantastic twitter guide, which you should check out. Using these tools can get you through some tough times until you are ready to post again. A great online tool to schedule posts is buffer.com or hootsuite.com, both have free and paid versions.
- Seek outside help. Just as you might go to therapy to help heal, consider using a social media company to manage your online profiles. Kow Abundant manages online profiles for your business or can help guide you with advice to navigate so that you don’t have to work so hard yourself. See our plans here
Posting when you are sad, depressed, or not feeling your best is totally natural. Depression is natural in times of grief. Bad things can happen and eventually, life will move on. It is important to have measures in place so that you can fuel your social media machine while you are away from it so that you don’t lose your audience. If you have developed a more natural posting style then you can be honest with your audience. You might be surprised to know that many people understand and might even reach out to you to offer support. During times of tragedy, it helps when others can get involved by donating to a desired charity or organization. This also shows that you and your business care about bettering the community and that there is life outside of business, all good things.
We want to know what you think. Comment below with what helps you and how you get through difficult times. Follow me on twitter and tweet and share and I’ll try to respond to you. @kowabundant